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Space...  The Final Frontier...  These are the voyages of astronomy programs in the Greater Columbus Metro Region.

You may have heard ColumbusUnderground announce the big news that COSI is remodeling their planetarium to be reopened in November (DETAILS from COSI).  Considering that announcement, today seems like a good time to talk about some of the other astronomy programs in the area.

Living in a fairly heavily developed area, the light pollution makes star gazing pretty difficult ~ but, we're lucky to have some amazing opportunities.

The most obvious starting point is Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory.  Perkins offers regular, weekly programs every Friday (during July, the observatory offers daytime Solar viewing programs).  Perkins posted a helpful guide for what happens at a public program (as well as the caveat that weather can result in unfavorable viewing conditions) HERE.

The Columbus Astronomical Society meets monthly for a presentation / event and viewing (when weather conditions allow) at Perkins as well ~ 8p on the second Saturday of each month ~ and guests are always welcome.

The Ohio State University Department of Astronomy has a public outreach program that includes:

The OSU Planetarium  Information on the public programs offered 2 weekends each month can be found HERE.

New Vistas in Astronomy programs at Perkins.  This program is offered as a full year subscription only (so keep an eye out for 2015 registration information) on one evening per month with an array of subject matter expert lecturers.

Astronomy Roof Nights (for astronomy students and on a "space available basis" for OSU Students / Faculty / Staff & their immediate family members) are currently suspended due to construction near the site, but keep an eye on their page for updates.

Our MetroParks offer programs pretty regularly as well.  The next astronomy program is being offered at Glacier Ridge MetroPark on Thursday 23 October 2014 at 5:30.  Program information HERE. 

Past MetroPark programs include Urban Astronomy programs at Sharon Woods, a handful of parks that stay open late for annual meteor showers including the Perseids (August) & Leonids (November), and stargazing events at Glacier Ridge & other parks.

Finally, there's a guy ~ Duke Skygawker ~ that puts on Barstronomy programs (similar to the Science Pub events, but focusing on astronomy).  You can follow his activity and find out about events on Twitter & Facebook.

It's that time of year again ~ Independents' Day!  This year's event will be taking place Friday 19 September 2014 - Sunday 21 September 2014 at its new location: 400 West Rich Street instead of its former home on Gay Street / Pearl Alley.

As expected, all the usual suspects have previews: Columbus Underground, Alive! (non-music must see events), Alive! (bands to see), (614) briefly touches on the event along with the rest of the Summer Festival Season events and WOSU's All Sides Weekend hosted event lead organizer Shea Scott for an interview last month.

I was trolling some of my usual sites looking for something to post for today and I realized ~ everyone has some version of a "Best of Columbus" list.

Are these lists really useful or are they an excuse to get businesses to advertise in the pages of the outlet that designates them "best" in a category?  By my (rough) count - Alive! had ~80 categories in 2014 and (614) had a more reasonable ~25 categories.

What do you readers think?  Are these useful - do you turn to them when looking for something new to do in the city?  Are there too many categories or not enough?  Do you want to see more of these? 

Since the CSO is in the news this week, having named the Bulgarian maestro Rossen Milanov as Music Director (replacing outgoing Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni) after an extensive 10 month search, I thought this would be a good time to talk about our Orchestra.

Full disclosure - I've had full season subscriptions to the Masterworks series for a few years now and absolutely love watching and listening to these talented and hardworking musicians.

The Masterworks Series (the classical series, as opposed to the contemporary "Pops" series) kicks off later this month with a production called Twisted, featuring an unprecedented collaboration between The CSO, Opera Columbus, BalletMET and The Columbus Symphony Chorus.  From there, the Masterworks Series will continue through Spring with a series of 11 more concerts, each with a run of Friday through Sunday, downtown at The Ohio Theatre on East State Street and The Southern Theatre on East Main Street.

Additionally, The CSO began a series of events last year called "Happy Hour with the CSO".  HH with the CSO features a free 60-90 minute 'after work' concert and free appetizers at The Ohio Theatre.  Currently, there are HH shows planned for Thursday 02 October 2014 and Thursday 16 April 2015 with the bar opening at 5:30p and the concert starting at 6:30p.

The CSO is an amazing cultural resource in our community and well worth checking out (solid date night as well - especially if you meander over to East Gay Street or South Fourth Street for dinner and take a little stroll along the Scioto Mile or through the Commons).

I also recommend arriving at least 1hr early before the Masterworks shows so you can listen to a 25-30min presentation by WOSU Classical host Christopher Purdy.  Mr. Purdy is always informative and entertaining while putting the pieces of music, composers, conductors and guest musicians into context for the audience to gain a richer understanding of the evening's performance.

Quick meta update:  Since it's been forever since I've blogged regularly, I'm going to try to ease back into it.  In the past, you were used to the M/W/F updates.  For the remainder of September, I'll be doing T/H only to try to keep from burning out already.  Once October rolls around, I'll see about returning to the M/W/F format.  Posts will still go live at 0855a.  As before - there's so much going on in our city, I can't possibly get to everything, but I'll try to paint with a broad brush.

                                                                                                                          Wild Goose Creative (located at 2491 Summit Street Columbus, Ohio 43202) is a great not-for-profit 501(c)(3) community arts space that offers programming and support to local artists and the local arts community.

While the Goose relies on memberships to keep the lights on, Wild Art Columbus has become a major fund-raiser over the past few years.  This year's event is very cool!

Every day for the entire month, the Goose is turning control of its social media outlets to a different local artist each day.  Each artist will be posting between 5-10 works of art - ranging from sculpture to poems to photos and paintings.  At the end of the month, the most popular piece from each artist will be auctioned off at a pop-up gallery event.

You can read about the 29 artists (and see their work after it has been posted) HERE and follow the event on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM & TWITTER.  The # on all three sites for the event is #wildartcolumbus.

Did you guys know that this week, 04-10 August 2013 is, in fact, National Farmers Market Week?  I was totally unaware of this fact until some random post directed me to the USDA's PAGE highlighting this.

There's plenty of Farmers Markets for you to check out through the remainder of the week, no matter where you are in the city.  Worthington is my personal favorite - large selection, good atmosphere & close to home.  However (this goes for almost all farm markets), you have to arrive early to get the best selection! 

(Also, no hate for the usage of Farmer's, Farmers, Farmers' - USDA uses "Farmers" and other markets have their own usage, which I have preserved in text. -ed.)

Tuesday:

Hillard Farm Market:  4p-7p.  Main Street & Center Street

Pearl Market:  10:30a-2p.  Pearl Alley

Wednesday:

Upper Arlington Farmers' Market:  3p-6p.  UA Senior Center

Clintonville Farmers' Market:  4p-7p.  North High Street & Orchard Lane

Franklin Park Conservatory Farmers' Market:  3:30p-6:30p.  Franklin Park Conservatory (1777 East Broad Street)

Uptown Westerville Farmers' Market:  3p-6p.  North State Street & East Home Street

Dublin Farmers' Market: 3p-6p.  Oakland Nursery

Thursday:

Bexley Farmers' Market:  4p-7p.  2111 East Main Street

Easton Farmers Market:  4p-7p.  Easton Town Square (Behind Brio)

Friday:

Pearl Market:  10:30a-2p.  Pearl Alley

Saturday:

400 Farmers Market:  10a-2p.  400 West Rich Street

North Market Farmers' Market:  8a-noon.  North Market

Clintonville Farmers' Market:  9a-noon.  North High Street & Orchard lane

Worthington Farmers Market:  8a-noon.  North High Street South of SR-161

Powell Farmers Market:  9a-noon.  50 South Liberty Street Parking Lot

Columbus Public Health Market:  10a-1p.  240 Parsons Avenue

Grandview Avenue Farmers Market:  10a-1p.  Grandview Avenue south of 5th Avenue